


Homecoming with News

by ilyena_sylph, Merfilly



Series: Dooku the Rat [6]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, handmaidens staff the embassy, rex is a stubborn cuss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-03
Updated: 2016-06-03
Packaged: 2018-07-11 23:53:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7075888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilyena_sylph/pseuds/ilyena_sylph, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rex makes it back, with a piece of the puzzle.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Homecoming with News

**Author's Note:**

> Quick shout out to all the readers, for the comments and bookmarks and kudos! Thank you all!

Rex hadn't intended to come back until his injury had fully healed, but news breaking on the HoloNet had panicked him. Getting information was never hard; Captain Rex of the 501st's Torrent Company was a legend already. That meant he knew his people were being recalled to Coruscant to join the General there, so he booked it back on a fast freighter, carrying a small, damning piece of evidence of his own.

The only problem was that he needed to get to the General, not his men, with the evidence. He didn't know who to trust other than Skywalker, given how the Order had screwed over his Commander. Coruscant, however, was a big planet, and with his reluctance to go near the Temple, that left him trying to figure out the best route.

Fortunately, he knew where the Embassies were, and was technically still on leave, so free to go to such places as a private sentient (not citizen, and how was that all going to work when the war ended?). He made his way by public transport, on strength of his uniform, to the Naboo Embassy in hopes of getting a message to the Senator.

He made it inside easily enough, and then had a bad moment when he thought the Senator herself was there -- not that that wouldn't be useful, but he'd be very surprised -- and stepping out of the office. But her eyes didn't take on that recognition-spark he'd gotten used to seeing from her. Normal humans didn't have batchers, though, so what the kriff? 

"Can I help you, soldier?" she asked, and her voice, too, was almost the Senator's. 

"Err, yes ma'am," Rex said. "Captain Rex of the 501st, with a message to deliver to the Chommell Sector Senator?" He could bull through this, he hoped, hating that he was using what was supposed to be a secret, to get to his General.

If his Commander was still around… well, she wasn't and that was another sore point in his life, but it was what it was. At least with her, he could hope she was alive, as opposed to Fives.

"Of the -- Captain, why don't you come back into my office? My name is Yané Chrin," she offered, taking a step backwards as she motioned to him with a graceful flick of her fingers. 

"Thank you, ma'am." Rex went with the woman, keeping his senses alert. He should not have anything to fear in Naboo's reach, despite where the Chancellor had been from. Senator Amidala was both kind and perceptive; surely her people were trustworthy.

He would just be mindful of what was said, even as he was thankful his identity seemed to matter.

"You're welcome," she answered, smiling at him as she opened the door and let him in, and shut it again behind them. "The Senator's been constantly in Senate Session since the," most wouldn't have noticed the shake of her in-drawn breath, but he wasn't most, "news broke, but Embassy commlinks are permitted even in the Chambers. Text-only, but better than nothing. What message needs to be sent, Captain?" 

How best to word this? "Fives' evidence is found for the General," he finally decided, and hoped Skywalker didn't kill him for evoking the tragedy to get the attention it needed. "And I do appreciate the assistance, ma'am. It could have bearing on the … news, as you put it, but it also impacts the lives of a million or so men."

"She won't be able to reach him from the Chambers," Yané replied as she moved to pick up the text comm-pad to send it anyway. "That's Fives and then the apostrophe, or Five apostrophe s? And it's no problem, Captain. 

"What you and your men -- and General Skywalker -- did on Naboo may not be common knowledge, but I served the Senator when she was our Queen. Would it be more helpful if I got in touch with him through the Temple? There've been a few rumors that he's planet-side currently." 

Rex had to make a judgment call fast on that. "Yes, but not with that message. And it's 's' then apostrophe. Can you use your knowledge of the General to get him out of the Temple and somewhere I can meet him? I'm very hesitant to let anyone outside of the Senator's staff or my General know where I am. Not at my top speed right now," he said, which wasn't quite true, but he showed the bandage on the side of his head to reinforce why he was being dodgy.

She put the pad back down and nodded, her eyes narrowing slightly (looking uncannily like the Senator, again) as she moved to a standard comm suite and started tapping in sequences. 

A Twi'lek girl in Initiate robes popped up several moments later. "This is the Jedi Temple dispatch, how may I direct your comm, Ambassador?" 

"Knight Skywalker, please, if he's in residence?" 

One of the girl's hands disappeared from the holo as her head tilted slightly, lekku obviously tensing -- to Rex's eyes, at least -- before she nodded. "Your Embassy is on the list," she agreed, "and yes ma'am, he is. One moment, please." 

She could still be half-seen, turned away slightly as a quiet, soothing tune played over the comm frequency. She came back to full focus for a moment, saying, "Transferring you now, ma'am," and then it was the General that was visible. Or at least, upper body and tight-closed outer robe was, even from Rex's angle. 

"Ambassador Chrin. Is something wrong?" Rex took in the tight sound of his General's voice, the fact that robe was so tightly closed… when had his General gone back to actually having a brown robe available? Or was Temple dress code more strict? 

Did his General have a head injury? His eyes were squinted in that particular manner. Or perhaps it was only a headache, but Skywalker definitely looked a little under the weather. He wanted to speak up, but he had no idea if Temple calls were recorded.

"Not necessarily?" Yané replied quickly, not sounding as though she recognized the signs, "but I had a rather unexpected visitor -- friendly visitor -- who would quite like to speak to you. Recent events being... well, recent events, I don't think he was quite certain where he could reach you without others noticing." 

Anakin turned his attention outward, eyes narrowing, and then he winced slightly, not where it was too obvious, but Rex knew his General. The man was in pain of some kind.

"Give me half an hour," Skywalker told the woman, and Rex carefully did not breathe out the sigh of relief he felt.

"However long you need, Master Jedi," Yané replied, "should he wait here, or is there somewhere else you would prefer?" 

"There. I know he's safe there," Anakin said on instinct alone. The comm then went silent as Anakin made ready to come to the Embassy.

Rex was going to hand Appo his own hide if it was Appo's fault the General was in pain. Never mind that Rex knew no one ever managed to stop Skywalker from doing just what he wanted to. As Yané was deciding where to put Rex, she got back a message saying 'contact him', confirming that she had done exactly what her Senator, and former Queen, wished.

"Abrupt as always," Yané said, shaking her head before she turned and looked at Rex again. "Can I get you anything, Captain?"

"No thank you, ma'am," he said, settling in a chair to wait. "I'm not keeping you from anything, am I?" he asked, realizing he might be an imposition.

"No, not a bit. Things are still very quiet here, after the attack, so I don't have much to do right now," she answered, glad that he'd made himself comfortable, even as she went to her own desk to sit back down. 

"What is common knowledge here? I was outbound when it broke, and still groggy. I know my unit has been pulled back here," Rex said. "Being on leave left me out of the loop." He figured finding out what could be said and putting it with what he'd learned could only serve him well and fill the time before his general arrived.

She considered, then started in on the time line as it had been reconstructed, sticking to what was public knowledge. His name was known to her, the blond hair and the marks on his uniform matched with what she knew.

By the time Anakin got there, Rex had a much better grasp of the story, even as it boggled his mind. He heard the General's entry and was moving to his feet in the next moment, all too aware that Anakin was going to see the bacta patch on his head.

"Sir."

Anakin had been on edge the entire trip over, even with Obi-Wan at his back, wondering who had decided to contact him through the _Naboo_ Embassy, and what that meant... so he had thrown his presence ahead of him when he entered the building, seeking. Realization of exactly who that familiar, trusted mind belonged to had pushed him to move faster, and the door had opened at the touch of the Force. 

Rex. Rex _here_ , safe, not who-the-kriff-knew-where-in-the-hells, and relief poured through his chest. Rex at near-attention, his voice the familiar, quiet projection that could so easily fill a room if he wanted, and Anakin crossed the room in four more stretched-out strides to get to him, dragging him into a hard embrace even as he saw the bacta patch and worried. "Rex." 

"Sir?" The hug was startling. Life must have been even harder than Rex had grasped if his General was hugging him. He didn't much care for the fact Kenobi was there; he held a grudge about losing his Commander after all. 

However, Rex wasn't completely without a heart, and his arms came up to awkwardly return the hug. They'd been running so hard, losing good men, that it felt … right, to just hang on for a moment.

"Good to see you, Captain," Obi-Wan said. "I'll know Anakin is in good hands now, for the push to end this all." He smiled over at Yané reassuringly, getting a flustered smile back; Obi-Wan was much talked about in handmaiden circles.

"It's been a _completely shit_ several days," Anakin answered Rex's startled question, feeling the unhappy edge to Rex's thoughts on Obi-Wan with an internal wince. He should have thought of that... but he'd wanted his brother with him, just in case. "And yeah, yeah, Master. Now you can actually get your _sheb_ back out to Cody like you've been trying to." 

He let go of his Captain somewhat unwillingly, searching the face he knew so well. "So what made you -- no, wait. Yané, can we borrow that open conference room we passed on the way up?" 

"Of course, Master Jedi. It's all yours." 

"I'll take transport back to the Temple and do just that, Anakin," Obi-Wan said, feeling an edge from the captain in his direction. He'd ask Cody why, later. He left the pair alone, as Anakin took Rex to the conference room and Yané went back to working on the massive stack of reports that were needed.

Rex waited until the door sealed, trusting his general to know if they were private, before he took a specimen tube, well sealed, out of his uniform pouch and passed it over.

"He was right, general. I found a med tech who needed credits, and proved Fives right!" That last came out with a growl of anger, pain, and betrayal all in one.

Anakin's jaw set hard, rage flashing up in him at that confirmation, and he moved to Rex's side to take the specimen in his flesh hand, the metal one settling on Rex's back. " _Haar'chak_!" he went for Mando'a rather than Huttese so that he would know exactly how angry he was about that. 

And then the bandage made him realize that Rex had decided to go offer himself up as a test subject, as something to be experimented on, in order to see if Fives was right in what he'd said, and he carefully put the specimen tube down on the table so he could shake his Captain once, hard. "You damned reckless brilliant idiot, what the hell were you thinking?!" 

Rex snorted. "What was I going to do, General? Deny one of my brothers their cremation and take the body across the hyperlanes?" he demanded. "What are we going to do about it? One on one, any of you _Jetii_ are a match for a clone, but how often is it one on one? What happens if Tup's problem hits us? How many of my brothers would die, against the very people they're supposed to trust to lead them?" He shuddered violently at the thought. "Bad enough we're just property of the Republic, but if this gets out, do you think that will get any better for us?"

There was a growing anger in Rex, one Anakin could recognize as the rage of a slave coming to understand how little choice there was for him to live a full life.

"We're going to _fix_ it," Anakin answered, the rage he'd been standing on for years for their sakes flaring up again, "is what we're going to do. 

"...and no. Of course you couldn't do that," he admitted after a few moments. Rex would never have done that to one of their fallen, no more than he would. "Steady, Rex. Steady. If that thing was designed as a weapon against the Jedi -- which, it obviously was -- then it's our obligation to take care of it. 

"You're _not_ 'just' property, not to me, and **none** of you are going to stay that way. I may not've had any choice about accepting it while there was a war on, but as soon as they hammer a peace treaty into place, I have some _plans_." 

Rex let out a ragged breath. "I know you will look after us, but you're one man, and pardon me sir, but you're not well-liked by your own people, from all I've ever seen. Of course, far as I'm concerned they can all go soak their heads in ice." He did look at Anakin with something like hope though. "At least the Senator will be in our corner, right?"

"Of course she is," Anakin agreed, the 'not well-liked by your own people' striking a nerve, but not too much of one. It was true, so many of the Jedi, especially the Council, didn't care for him. But it wasn't the Jedi he needed on this one. He might be only a mediocre student of politics, but he knew the size of his own legend, and had a bit of a sense of how much impact the 'Hero With No Fear' calling for the emancipation of the Republic's heroes could have in the Senate. "Kriff, I think she's more than half-planning to offer citizenship on Naboo to any of you that want it, if all else fails.

"Which it's not going to." 

Rex stared at Anakin, then shook his head. "That's something else, General." He let his anger fade down, then looked at the chip. It was a symbol of betrayal, a symbol of hatred as far as he was concerned. "My leave's not up yet, sir. Anything you wish me to do for you, off the books?"

He didn't want to just sit around idle, but he didn't want to infringe on Appo's leadership so quickly; his General looked uninjured despite the holo from earlier.

Anakin shook his head after a few moments of thinking. Padmé was spending all of her time in the Senate, and besides, she swore she was perfectly happy. Ahsoka had to find her own way, her own path, without them hanging over her shoulders. "Keep your ears open in the Guard's direction? 

"We've had one nasty incident with some of them already." 

Rex growled, but he nodded sharply. "See what I can do along those lines, sir." He'd hoped… but no, the girl had her reasons, and he half-understood them. " _K'oyacyi_ , sir," he said, standing up to go find his own way into seeing how badly mind-twisted the brothers in the Guard were.

"Right back at you, Rex. _Right back at you_."

**Author's Note:**

> Sheb = ass  
> Haar'chak = damn it  
> Jetii = Jedi  
> K'oyacyi = stay alive
> 
> courtesy of mandoa.org


End file.
